- Namibia is to launch a nationwide polio vaccination campaign this week as the health authorities confirmed on Monday the death toll from the virus had risen to 12.
Dr Kalumbi Shangula, permanent secretary in the ministry of health, told a press conference that 84 polio cases had been recorded and the outbreak now affected all but two of the country's 13 regions.
Namibia is to begin the first round of immunisation between Wednesday and Friday with 2.5 million doses of vaccine supplied by the UN Children's Fund (Unicef). Two more rounds are scheduled to take place in July and August with the aim of reaching all two million Namibians.
The polio outbreak was first reported on 7 May in the small town of Aranos, 395km south of the capital Windhoek. It took the government almost a month to confirm the presence of the highly contagious virus, during which time seven people died and 39 were paralysed.
Namibia will be the first country in a decade to attempt a nationwide immunisation campaign, an effort that will involve 1,300 vaccination teams and a fleet of 800 vehicles. But the government has come in for criticism by opposition parties and human rights groups over its allegedly tardy response.
Shangula noted that 21 June was the earliest realistic date for the first round. "We had no vaccines and when we received them there were a lot of logistics to be arranged, people and resources to be mobilised," he explained.
As many as 6,339 people - volunteers and medical officers - will be involved in the US$4.5 million vaccination campaign, said Shangula. "The first two rounds are for every person who finds himself or herself within the borders of Namibia, irrespective of his or her nationality, health status, physical and physiological condition."
He said the last round, to be held in August, would be for children, who besides receiving the polio vaccine, would also be vaccinated for measles and at the same time receive Vitamin A supplementation.
"Every one who has received vaccination shall be marked with an indelible marker in round one and two, as is done during national elections," Shangula added.
"In some areas vaccination teams will carry out house-to-house immunisation to ensure that every person receives his or her two drops of monovalent oral polio vaccine during the first and second round. We do however encourage everyone to turn up at the vaccination points," said Shangula.
Polio is a paralytic virus spread by human-to-human contact through fecally contaminated water or food. The incubation period ranges from three to 35 days.
The polio confirmed in Namibia is an imported virus strain of the Indian type, which was isolated in neighbouring Angola last year.
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